Since before written history, man has demonstrated his gregarious and social nature by engaging in games, particularly sports played with a ball within the bounds of a stadium or marked court. Ruins of courts for such ball sports have been found in Central America which date back thousands of years. Today, many amateur ball court sports are played on a spontaneous basis in backyards, parks and on beaches where no formal game courts exist.
Volleyball is a popular amateur sport which is frequently played informally at social gatherings. Often, a net will be erected and a court marked out on whatever unobstructed playing surface is available with rocks, branches, bottles, or any other objects which may be available as improvised markers to define the bounds of play. When possible, it is particularly popular to lay out volleyball playing courts on soft sandy surfaces, such as a beach, or a prepared playing surface covered with a deep layer of soft sand. In summer months, such volleyball playing surfaces are particularly popular because they allow comfortable play in bare feet.
Portable systems for marking the boundaries of tennis courts, and which may be adapted to the marking of volleyball and other sports courts, are known but have many disadvantages and may present hazards to volleyball players when used in environments of informal volleyball play. U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,359, to Moore, describes a portable sports court boundary for tennis or volleyball courts formed of flexible cord or twine which may be wound on a specially constructed spool and unrolled and placed on a surface where it is desired to play a game. The twine boundary of that boundary marking device is anchored to the playing surface by spikes with hooks which hook over the cord boundary when the spikes are driven into the playing surface. A mini-volleyball layout is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,968, to Peterson, which utilizes corner weights to hold a flexible cord between them, thereby defining a playing court. The weights, which are circular and have a channel cut in their base to receive the twine, are located at each corner of the court of Peterson's layout. A collapsible boundary frame for games is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,118, to Nehl, which utilizes rigid members joined by rigid elbows to define the boundaries of a playing court.
Each of these playing court marking devices has inherent disadvantage and may present hazards to game players, particularly when utilized to mark playing courts on soft surfaces such as deep sand. Anchoring systems, such as that suggested by Moore, which utilize hooks or other devices which cooperate with the cord boundary, are a hazard to barefoot players who may easily step on the cord boundary at the location of an elevated portion of an anchoring device causing injury to the player's unprotected feet. Such foot injuries, as well as ankle injuries, may be caused by weighting devices, particularly where weights intrude upon the interior playing area of the court, at the back court corners of the court as do those suggested by Peterson. Where rigid boundary defining members, such as those suggested by Nehl, are utilized, the entire court boundary presents similar hazards.
The structures of known portable playing court marking technology do not provide an effective and economic method of manufacturing a portable court boundary demarcation apparatus which sharply defines square playing court corners. Corner weights, such as those of Peterson, with radiused channels for receiving the boundary defining flexible cord, obliterate the square corners of the back court. Both flexible boundary defining members, as employed by Moore, and rigid court defining members, as employed by Nehl, require that the members be cut and either rejoined or joined to special corner forming members to achieve sharp right angled corners at the back court boundary when fabrication techniques of the present portable court boundary art are utilized.